The Rogue "pastoral" Team: Act Five - Annah Reveals She is God

Start from Act One
Incongruous Circumspection was threatened by Mark and Annah's Henchman! 
Aww...the Henchman Apologizes...Sort of 
Mark Reid Tries to Preach Out of a Jam

In Act Four, we saw the Queen of Hearts thunder, “Off with his head!!!”  Well…essentially, Annah Reid did just that when she twisted the story of Joseph to make it seem that he was only blessed by God because he blindly followed the authority of the dude who could lop his head off like a grass snips to a brussels sprout.  Of course, she was referring to Zach needing to obey her.

Problem is, the story had nothing to do with that.  You can see what I mean by reading Act Three and Four.  But, let’s move on.  We’re about to find out that Annah Reid from Freedom Christian Center really sees herself as god (yeah…small ‘g’) with Mark Reid acquiescing.

I don’t interject as often as I have in the previous Acts (I think) because the conversation is too good and pretty self-explanatory.

*****

Zach: I was reading other things in the Scriptures and…

Zach gets a word in!  Oh wait…valiant effort, but….no…

Annah: No! Zach, this is the point:…

A great sign of a cult or a controlling group is when they do not let outside influences that disagree with THEIR way enter, in any manner, their system.  I’m being a tad generous by using the term “outside influences.”  As you can see, we’re really talking about the Bible here.  Zach was trying to say that he was reading something in the Scriptures and Annah immediately saw a threat.  Sad.

 …I asked you to listen to that for the purpose of the ministering to you…

What a crock of crap!  Let me translate:  “Don’t read the Bible idiot!  Especially not when I give you something that MINISTERS to you!  You should ONLY utilize MY inputs.  Anything or anyone else must not come between you and me.”  “Ministering”, in this case is a sinister buzz word.  Meaningless.

…You're not listening. That's rebellion. It's like [you're saying], "I'm doing this. I do that.  No, you're not telling me what to do. You're not going to tell me to pray…

(Zach: Annah says this in reference to a previous discussion on praying in tongues in which she wanted me to pray in tongues whenever she asks me to, even if I don’t feel that it is the right thing to do, at the time.

For example, Annah believes praying in tongues, or in the Spirit, needs to be something that is practiced all the time. She says that it will clear up confusion in your mind and reveal to you the secrets of God's will. She goes further to say that refusing to do so is considered blaspheming the Holy Spirit - This being directed at me when I simply choose to pray silently in a group when we're all told to pray in the Spirit.)

…you're not going to tell me to do this..." And, Zach, that's not discipleship.

What a softball.  According to Annah, Zach desiring to search the Scriptures to validate what he is being told is “not listening” and therefore “rebellion.”  What the…!???  Then she hits him with the “that’s not discipleship” bit.  Anyway…let’s let Annah dig a bigger hole- after Zach tries to say something.

Zach: No, I was just doing what God was leading me to do…

Annah: No! Not God! We're your leaders. God uses leaders to correct you. Do you know that? This whole thing about, "God tells me...", - and I'm sorry, I don't mean to get an attitude – I ran with people that have said, "God this, God that", and they're so rebellious against authority, they don't listen to anybody's voice outside of "God, God, God".  They're independent. God uses authority.

Yep.  She said that.  She really did!  God uses authority, not himself.  The Holy Spirit is pointless.  You can’t commune with Him and move forward in the Christian life on your own.  You need authority.

Has anyone ever asked the proponents of this cultic “theology” what happens when a person is between churches?  What to do then?  You don’t have a pastor to be under authority then, right?  Oh well.  It’s easy to shoot common sense holes in this crap when you just think a teensy weensy bit.

Finally, I’m still laughing like crazy here.  “…they don’t listen to anybody’s voice outside of God, God, God.”  Yeah….hilarious.

Zach: That's not my goal in saying that…

I’m intrigued Zach.  Can you expound?

Annah:…

Guess not.  Bummer.

…Okay, but God uses authority, Zach. I asked you. This is the point: honoring your authorities – your authority, Annah Reid, asked you to listen to that CD. I said that if you can't listen to all of them (the CD set of 4), listen to that one.

Zach: I listened to the first one.

(Zach: I am attempting, at this point to get to the bottom of why Annah was so insistent for the past week or so on me listening to the Joseph CD’s, knowing of Annah's pupose of getting us to submit, since Annah has been preaching of Joseph to the congregation for a while now in order to teach submission)

Annah: (Ignoring me.) It's that simple, Zach.

Zach: I listened to the first one.

Annah: No! But you didn't listen to any of them. It's that simple, Zach. [You say], "I'm reading my book. I'm not going to listen to the CD you asked me to listen to, Annah." That's not good leadership. That's not good submission, Zach.

Huh!?  Zach stated TWICE that he listened to the first CD.  And Annah said he didn’t.  It may appear that she is calling him a liar, saying that she doesn’t believe Zach even listened to the CD at all.  But I don’t think that is what she is getting at.  There must be something in those CD’s that, if swallowed whole, would make anyone completely subservient to her.  The fact that Zach is attempting to validate the content or even her words outside of the CD content is enough to convince her that Zach didn’t really listen to the CD’s at all. 

In other words, if Zach HAD listened to the CD’s, this meeting would be about Zach coming and asking how he needs to align himself with Mark and Annah Reid’s vision.  Nothing more, nothing less.

And what is that baloney sausage about swapping the words “leadership” and “submission”?  Not only is it confusing, but it is quite disingenuous.  Annah seems to think that everyone who is a leader must be submissive to another leader, in order to be a leader – except Annah Reid and possibly Mark, though I doubt that at this point.  Mark probably is perfectly happy being submissive to her.

Zach: When it comes time, I will listen to it.

Annah: No! That's not what we're saying. Do you understand what you're saying right now, Zach?

Zach: I know I'm saying, "No." But that's not a rebellious spirit.

That statement is a very hard one for psycho-sociopaths like Annah to understand.  Saying “No” is just fine in every other area of society, but not under these types.  They see only one thing – rebellion.  I wonder what family life was like for their kids.  Youch!

Annah: Well, it is.

Zach: No, it's not.

Annah: It's saying, "When I decide, I'll do it."

That’s okay, Annah.  Really.  It IS!  After all, you’re both adults here.  You have two feet that can take you where YOU want to go.  Nobody needs to tell you what to do.

My father-in-law gave me a CD on some dude who had a vision that he went to hell.  I had absolutely no interest in listening to it, so I didn’t.  Same idea.  Two adults, both exercising choices they have every ability to exercise.

Jump off a bridge anyone?

Zach: No, it's because you gave me the CD's at a certain time in my life where I was doing something else…

Quite a valid point, if you ask me.  Any reasonable person would understand.

Annah: No. But we're asking you as leaders to listen to it today. It would be like this, Zach: you're the worship leader and you hand me a CD of five songs you want me to listen to for Sunday. And I go, "I'll listen to it when I can. I'll decide when I'll listen to it."

Again, Annah.  That’s okay!!!!  But, it’s a bad analogy, and you know it.  According to you, Zach is NOT your authority and thus you don’t have to do what he asks you to do.

What a pathetic way to live the Christian life.  Only “doing” when told to “do” rather than just DOING!!!!!  And then the flip-side – refusing to “do” when the bloke telling you to “do” is beneath you in rank.  What a waste.

Mark: “I'm listening to other music right now because God told me…”

Disingenuous.  Inflammatory.  Red Herring. Nice try Mark.  Good to see you still have a voice.

Annah: “...and I'll decide when God tells me to listen to that CD.” That's rebellion.

How about we skip all the “God told me” crap and just listen to the bloody CD on our own terms.  Yeah.  I said it.  What on earth gives these creeps the right to require ANYTHING of ANYONE!!!  There IS NO LAW!  Biblical or otherwise.  It’s stupidity at its finest.  These two are sick.  Disturbed.

Mark: We can't work with that.

Not when you’re a psycho-sociopath that thinks they’re in charge of everyone that walks through your stupid god club doors.  Both these people are idiots.  This is unhealthy for every person who is “learning” under them.  They need to go pound sand and suck their thumbs, yelling into their Bible-print pillows.

Annah: No. It's rebellion. And you cannot say it's not rebellion, Zach, it is. It's not submission. It's not like, "What do you want me to learn. What do you want me to do Annah and Mark." It [should be] literally the attitude of saying, "I'm humbling myself. I'm going to be a submitting, good disciple." And that's what God wants. It is, Zach.

Zach: I think that's nitpicking.

Annah: Huh?

Zach: I think that's nitpicking (Zach demonstrates the action of nitpicking to clear up any confusion from difficulty in hearing the pronunciation of the word itself).

Not sure what the “action of nitpicking” is that Zach is referring to, but, knowing my bro, it was probably hilarious.

Annah: No it isn't. It isn't. And that's mocking (repeating the action Zach did for nitpicking.)

You’ll see, over and over again, that, throughout this meeting, Zach is never allowed to “mock” but it is perfectly fine for Mark and Annah Reid to do it.  And, what’s worse, they hold the true definition of “mocking.”

Zach: No. I'm saying this is what's in my heart right now, that's what this (the nitpicking action) is referring to.

Mark: Okay, I think Annah had a really good illustration. If you told the team – these are the people you have authority over (Mark points to an imaginary group of people), and who you are leading. If you gave them a set list, and you gave them a new song, and you said, "I want you to listen to this, because this is what we're on this week." - and the reason that Annah gave you the Joseph [CD's] is because this is the impasse that we're at in your leadership. - and you told the team, "I've got this song. I want you to listen to it this week, because we're going to do it this Sunday." And you had one of your team members say, "Well, I'm listening to other stuff right now." And it wasn't a priority. But they came, and they still wanted to minister on your team, but they weren't taking the equipment or the direction that you were giving them as a leader, what would you say to that team member?

Um.  Kick them off the team?  After all, Mark, it’s a freaking TEAM!  So, if one idiot doesn’t want to do his job, he doesn’t have to be on the team!  That’s it buddy.  Zach doesn’t need to have a freaking hours long meeting, trying to tell the moron to submit to his authority, which wouldn’t be the point anyway.  The fact is, if the guy doesn’t want to do his part, he can’t be involved.

That goes for your sorry god show too.  If you feel a person isn’t doing his part to put on a show for the congregants, then you can fire him or her.  That’s your prerogative.  It has nothing to do with authority, submission, rebellion or whatever.  People are fired every day for worse things.  I mean, you’re talking about ZACH NOT SMILING HERE!!!!!

Moron.

Also, did you notice the word swap there?  “Leadership.”  They keep doing that and it’s getting a bit irritating.  They’re working this psychological side of slipping in a feel good term to Zach’s brain so he feels that somehow, somewhere, he’s at the same “leadership” level as they are.  But, they get to decide when he loses that or when he is good enough to have earned it.  What they really mean is “underling.”

Zach: I'd say, "You know, it's probably better that you listen it. But next time this happens, so that we can actually be together, like on the musical aspect of it..."

Annah: …

Shut up, Annah!  The guy didn’t get to finish his point!  But, you saw it was going to end bad for your purposes, didn’t you.  You saw that maybe, just maybe, Zach might have had better ideas for leading a team than you.  You beat the authority bullcrap over everyone’s head whereas others, like Zach, are more reasonable, i.e., realistic.

…And do you think, Zach, that if you said the key was supposed to be "D major" and they didn't care what you thought, that they were going to play it in "G major" during the worship time, that they'd be rebellious? And then they said, "Well, next time I'll do it, maybe. Maybe, I'll do it."

What a stupid analogy.  Just dumb.  Proves nothing. 

No, Annah, any music director would stop the music and boot the idiot off the stage or go beat the living crap out of him with a mic stand.  What do you expect Zach to say?

Zach: If they know what they're doing then that'd be something that we'd have to deal with.

Ouch!  That should smart a bit.

Annah: But didn't you know that I'd asked you to listen to [the Joseph CD's]?...

Bloody hell!!!  When are we going to stop harping on those stupid CD’s!  This woman needs to get checked out for OCD.  She needs drugs – massive doses.  Horse pills.

… I asked you, like, three times – no, two times….

Go ahead and exaggerate, Annah.  Nobody’s counting.

…I said, "Listen to these CD's. And if you can't listen to them, just listen to the third CD." You knew what I asked, so it's not that you didn't know, it's just that you're not doing. And you have an attitude, Zach. I don't think you see it, but you do have an attitude…

Another red flag for cults and guilt-trippin’ groups.  They get to define a good attitude.  And they also get to read your mind and tell you when you have a bad attitude, even if you vehemently disagree or provide a five-thousand page dissenting affidavit.

 …It's like, "I'll do it when God tells me, nobody is going to tell me to "pray in the Spirit" …

(Zach: Another reference to the praying in tongues audibly that she believes should be practiced as often as possible, if not always in order to teach ourselves what God's will is, and be more in tune with His will.)

This isn’t the time or the place to discuss tongues.  But, I will say, read 1 Corinthians 14 and any other reference to speaking in tongues and then try and make the argument about knowing God’s will better by them.

News flash:  God’s will is what you make of it.  Learn, grow, go out, and DO!  That’s God’s will.  Stop sitting around and wondering what His will is.  You’re wasting your life.

…no one is going to tell me to listen to a CD. I'll do it when God tells me." That's an attitude.

Now, whether or not that is an attitude, Zach never said that.  Annah is putting words in Zach’s mouth to prove that he is “rebellious.”  The problem for her is that the facts don’t add up.  Her conclusions are based on her assumptions about Zach and nothing else.  Zach’s words tell a much different story.

Mark: That's not being Spirit led.

Mark.  WHAT are you talking about?  What isn’t being Spirit led?  What the heck is being Spirit led anyway?  A stupid buzz word in my opinion.  But, since its part of your ever-self-aggrandizing dogma, I’ll address it.

“Spirit led” to Mark and Annah Reid is doing exactly what they say, without question AND with a  smile, plastered on the face.  It has NOTHING to do with God.  How do we know this?  Zach attempted to talk about how he was seeking God’s direction that may have been outside of what these two idiots wanted – and Mark and Annah Reid, “pastors” of Freedom Christian Center in Ramsey, Minnesota, would have none of it.

*****

This is sort of an odd place to end the Act, but it is getting a bit long.  In Act Six, we will explore the insecurities of Mark and Annah Reid when they are in public and come across those that they deem to be under them.  It will get your blood boiling.  I guarantee it.